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Old 06-22-2013, 04:05 PM
 
57 posts, read 178,090 times
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I will be moving to California next week from MA - I plan on buying a car, but I heard that cars are less expensive here in MA, is that true? and how much less expensive is it? I have a friend that will ship a car for $1000, or a bit less than that.

Last edited by volosong; 05-21-2020 at 08:07 PM..
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Old 06-22-2013, 04:19 PM
 
Location: New York City/San Diego, CA
686 posts, read 1,131,699 times
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Used cars tend to be a bit more expensive in California but it is worth it as they are generally in much better shape: no road salt results in much less rust to say nothing of the potholes and bumper bashing endemic to Mass.

I'd imagine in San Diego you might be able to get good deals because of the transient nature: lots of military and folks moving in and out.
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Old 06-22-2013, 04:28 PM
 
57 posts, read 178,090 times
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I am actually considering to lease new or buying new, would that be the same price everywhere?
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Old 06-22-2013, 04:49 PM
 
Location: New York City/San Diego, CA
686 posts, read 1,131,699 times
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It's more expensive in California but when you consider the costs of shipping or driving it out, as well as the hassle of getting it registered, it makes more sense to just buy it in CA. Some leases have geographic restrictions so they will just charge you more when you get to CA. However, I generally found MUCH better prices at the Los Angeles dealers versus the San Diego dealers, just a larger market.

You also don't have the yearly excise tax that you have in Mass, which can be significant for a newer car.
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Old 06-23-2013, 01:13 AM
 
Location: Temporarily residing on Planet Earth
658 posts, read 1,548,162 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by sfosyd View Post
It's more expensive in California but when you consider the costs of shipping or driving it out, as well as the hassle of getting it registered, it makes more sense to just buy it in CA. Some leases have geographic restrictions so they will just charge you more when you get to CA. However, I generally found MUCH better prices at the Los Angeles dealers versus the San Diego dealers, just a larger market.

You also don't have the yearly excise tax that you have in Mass, which can be significant for a newer car.
good points. I was also wondering about buying in CA or buying now (Seattle). Seattle though rarely ever snows and rarely gets below freezing, so never a worry about salt on the roads like the northeast.
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Old 06-23-2013, 10:57 AM
 
Location: California
10,090 posts, read 42,261,866 times
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But wouldn't you then have to pay taxes in both states? When we transferred all our cars here, we not only paid registration fees, but also taxes on what the cars were worth.
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Old 06-24-2013, 05:07 PM
 
Location: Temporarily residing on Planet Earth
658 posts, read 1,548,162 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ShelbyGirl1 View Post
But wouldn't you then have to pay taxes in both states? When we transferred all our cars here, we not only paid registration fees, but also taxes on what the cars were worth.
Oh wow that sucks!! wow yea I think I will wait until getting to the new state then!! If you're buying $50,000 car then maybe it doesn't matter much. But if you're buying a $5000 car then it matters because you don't want to pay an extra $100 or $200 or whatever for no reason.
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Old 05-21-2020, 06:56 PM
 
Location: plano
7,885 posts, read 11,318,809 times
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You won't pay sales tax twice on new car purchase. If you register it in your old state you pay sales tax there not on it again when you move to a new state. If you buy the car in your old state but do not have an address to register it in that state you pay sales tax in the old state but only pay added sales tax in the new state when you register it there if the sales tax rate is more than you paid in the state you bought it. At least that's how it worked in the states I've lived. Ymmv in Ca especially they seem to do alot of things differently and not necessarily good for the consumer.
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Old 05-21-2020, 07:15 PM
 
Location: Hookerville, formerly in Tweakerville
15,110 posts, read 32,127,116 times
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The OP last posted on 09-21-2013 at 03:49 PM, so I'm sure that by now he's figured out the tax problem.

Last edited by moved; 05-21-2020 at 08:12 PM..
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Old 05-21-2020, 07:39 PM
 
4,294 posts, read 4,386,799 times
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If you do go the 2nd hand route how do you go about getting a 3rd party mechanic to inspect it ?

Ie. You find a car on Craigslist check it out on Carfax but want someone else to inspect it. Is that pretty common ? How much do mechanics normally charge for this ?

How do you protect yourself against people re calculating the speedometer to show less miles ?

Thanks
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